Pleasant Little Kingdom
by yasmeeniman
Summary: Carrie Bradshaw married the devastatingly sexy (and rich) Mr. Big AKA Dr. William Van der Woodson. Charlotte married Harold Waldorf. Samantha married Bart Bass after becoming pregnant with his child, they were divorced less than two years later. Miranda quits her job to support politician husband William Vanderbilt II
1. Pretty Little Picture

Carrie Bradshaw Van der Woodson was awoken as the sun rays shone through her bedroom drapes, she stretched out and yawned. Rolling over she looked to see that her husband wasn't there, he must have left for work already, she though glancing at their bedside clock. She sat up, surrounded by 1200 thread count egyptian cotton sheets that more closely resembled a cloud than a bed, and rubbed her eyes. She still couldn't believe this was her life sometimes. Although she had been married to Mr. Big for going on twenty years now and they had two beautiful children, Eric and Serena, she remembered the days of her small studio apartment and nightly takeout Chinese food like they were yesterday. She got up and padded down the hallway toward the kitchen in her baggy pink flannel pajama pants and wife beater. Big had bought her so many pajama sets she had lost count; slik ones, short ones, night gowns. But she felt more comfortable in flannels or a pair of sweats, besides she preferred to spend more money on clothes she could actually wear out of the house ..or shoes ..especially shoes.

When she arrived in the kitchen she was in for a surprise, seated at the table devouring the breakfast Angie, their housemaid, had put out for them was Big.

"Hey ..what are you doing here?" She asked sitting across from himand beginning to pop the blueberries in her mouth one by one.

"I took today off" he answered stuffing another forkful of waffles into his mouth.

"What do you wanna do today?" He asked his eyes scanning the paper laying on the table in front of his plate.

"What about couples spa day, massages ..sauna ..hot tub" She suggested sipping her tea. He laughed as he watched his wife, she was made for Upper East Side living. But he clearly remembered the days when she would order the least expensive thins on the menu because she didn't want to make his bill too high, or offer to go dutch once she saw the bill. When they had first moved in together she didn't see how two people could need or even want such a big place. One thing she had been good at from the beginning though was dressing like an Upper East Sider, but he was still working on the pajamas.

He had gotten up and moved to her side of the table. "Let's go" he said kissing her on the side of her head.

* * *

"So how are you doing?" Serena asked "has the press gotten any better?"

"The press doesnt get better Serena ..they only get worse" Tripp sighed.

Tripp's father, William Vanderbilt II was running for President and as a result his family had been under a microscope, especially today, with Tripp's first day at Columbia being today. Serena, Nate and Blair had made their way to the Upper West Side after school to visit Trip and Eric, well Serena and Nate had come to visit Tripp and Eric, Blair had come mostly because it meant being close to Nate for a couple more hours.

"I'm sorry" Serena said holding tight to his hand and stroking his arm with the other hand. He shook his head, Tripp hated that his family was followed nearly everywhere, but he was proud of his dad and he knew that he had no choice. Tripp's grandfather William Vanderbilt always got what he wanted and what he wanted was for his son to be President, he had even pressured his two grandsons and even his oldest granddaughter to take internships at the mayors office and even to work under Congressmen.

"I'm just proud of him, I guess it's a small price to pay."

Serena nodded in agreement, she had her fair share of run in's with the media, her mother being Carrie Bradshaw-Van der Woodson, the semi-famous "Sex Blogger" and her father William Van der Woodson, world renown plastic surgeon.

"Anyway ..how was your first day back at Constance" Serena shook her head, now that she was back from boarding school she was trying her hardest to do well in school academically, but socially she was over high school. Going into senior year she and blair agreed that neither of them would get sucked into the drama, or the battle for "Queen Bee." Penelope Shafai could have it if she wanted.

"School was ...school" Serena replied. Tripp chuckled as the stopped walking he pulled her around to face him.

"Well" he said as he wrapped his arms around her waist "You have one year until you're up at Columbia with me" he offered kissing her.

"I can't wait" she smiled after they pulled back from their kiss.

As Blair and Nate walked behind them engaging in meaningless small talk Blair became increasingly distracted by Serena and Tripp. She was happy that her best friend seemed to have found the one, but she had been envious of Tripp and Serena's relationship for some time now. She saw the way Tripp looked at her, how comfortable they were around each other, all she wanted was for Nate to look at her like that, to make her feel that comfortable.

"You know what I mean?" Nate finished his sentence- that Blair hadn't been listening to.

"Yeah ..yeah" she said waving him off, never once taking her eyes off Serena and Tripp.


	2. Victoire

"And we can now predict that William Vanderbilt the second has won the election to become the 45th President of the United states" the newscaster announced.

The whole room broke out in applause and cheer. Tripp rushed over to his father to shake his hand. He couldn't have been more proud.

"Congratulations Mr. V" Serena gushed wrapping her arms arounf his shoulders.

"Thank you Serena and thanks for coming"

"I wouldn't miss it"

William and Miranda smiled lovingly at their son and his girlfriend. They had always loved Serena, even as a child when she and Tripp hated each other. Despite her bender two years ago they had always though Serena was perfect for their son and so far, they were right. She kept him grounded, his grades had never been better and they suspected she had something to do with his sudden change of heart when it came to the internship on the Mayors office.

Just as Serena and Tripp turned around to head for the dance floor hand in hand, Anne Archibald gracefully made her way to her brother and Sister-in-Law with her husband Howard in tow. She grabbed her brothers hand and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"I'm so proud of you!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Thanks sis" he smiled returning the peck on the cheek.

He shook the Captains head and turned back to his sister and theu father who had just approached to begin talking strategy ..already.

"Miranda" the Captain nodded Gingerly shaking her hand. They had never been close, but the captain had always admired Miranda. His wife along with every other woman in his family had no other job other than being a socialite, posing for the paparazzi, chairing charities and plannig parties or rather paying others to plan parties. Miranda however worked hard for everything she had. She got up early in the mornings, was one of the first in the office and the last one out, she only stepped down from her position when William announced that he would be running for president.

"Thanks for coming Howard"

Miranda smiled "Where's Nate?"

"Oh I think Joana dragged him out onto the dance floor"

They laughed as they eyed Nate trying to keep up with his older cousin on the dance floor.

"Can I cut in?" asked Blair.

"Of course" Joanna smiled "I'm gonna go to the bar, want anything?"

Blair shook her head, she had already paid a visit to the bar and had a few drinks to work up the courage to even come over there.

"I'll take a rum and coke" Nate said grabbing Blair by the waist and spinning her around. She giggled like a little girl as she took hold of his shoulders. She looked up at him and smiled, he returned the gesture. Times like this she was more than certain that Nate Archibald was the perfect guy for her and she was also certain that he had to have some kind of feelings for her. He just didn't know how to admit it. But she would get it out of him sooner or later.

* * *

Charlotte was sitting at the bar sipping on an alternative- a delicious mix of coconut rum and cranberry juice- and watching the bodies floating around on the dance floor. Harold was out on the floor twirling Carrie around. She wasn't one for dancing, but Harold loved it.

"This seat taken?" she heard a voice ask.

She turned around to see Cory Ingram, the olympic swimmer and three time gold medalist. He was even more handsome in person.

"No" she answered "please" she gestured toward the seat to her right. He sat down and ordered a Jameson on the rocks.

"Some party" he commented taking a swig of his drink.

Charlotte shrugged "I guess ..I'm just not used to this" he added.

She smiled sympathetically, " I know how you feel, I've been a part of this world about 19 years, but I wasn't always"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, before I met my husband Harold I was just an average gallery owner ..I kind of miss it there" she said thoughtfully examining her cocktail glass.

"Well if you ever wanna go back you can always slum it with me" he offered.

She eyed him, his perfectly tailored suit, his gold pinky ring and perfetly manicured hands "You're hardly slumming it"

He smiled and turned back to his drink "Well sometimes ..I mean I still own the house I grew up in, I like to go there sometimes to hang out in the neighborhood I grew up in, eat at the places I used to eat, go to the barber who used to cut my hair .."

He shrugged "It keeps me grounded"

Charlotte was impressed. Usually when someone made it to the Upper East Sidre, they never looked back.

"Excuse me ..can I steal my wife away?" Harold asked approaching the bar.

"Of course"

"Come on" Harold said pulling his wife up from her barstool into a hug.

"Dance with me ..at least one dance" He begged beginning to sway back and forth

"Ok Ok" she obliged laughing as he whisked her onto the dance floor.

"Nice to meet you" she called looking back at Cory.

"You too" he smiled looking down into his drink "You too."

* * *

"Come on" Blair drawled "stay with me"

Nate was trying to usher her into a hotel room upstairs from the party she had one too many glasses of champagne and had nearly gotten sick all over Nate as they were dancing to about their tenth song in a row. That's when he decided he needed to check her into a room so she could sleep it off.

"I don't wanna be alone" she plopped down on the bed and playfully pulled him down with her.

"I'll stay until you go to sleep" he reasoned.

"Fine" she said crossing her arms. He made his way to the bathroom and grabbed on of the robes.

"Here put this on" he said "so you don't mess up your dress"

She snatched the robe and stood up on the bed to unzip her dress.

"Blair come down from there"

"I'm fine Nathaniel" she said as she began to wobble a little bit. She dropped the dress around her ankles, revealing red La Perla's, her favorite. She took her time wrapping the robe around herself and tying it and Nate still seemed to show no interest in ravishing her. He must be gay she reasoned with herself before making herself comfortable on the bed and falling into a deep sleep, but that didn't stop her from melting inside when she felt his arms wrap around her.


End file.
